Fuming GOP officials have pulled out of a February primary debate on NBC in the wake of Wednesday’s much-mocked debacle on CNBC.
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Priebus argued that CNBC assured the committee that the debate would focus on substantive policy issues like jobs and taxes, but he said the network failed on that count.
Priebus’ tough-talk letter was blasted to the network as GOP White House hopefuls planned to meet in Washington this weekend to discuss how to wrest control of these debates from the RNC after this week’s debacle in Boulder, Politico reported, breaking that news earlier in the day. The Republican National Committee (RNC), most of the Republican candidates and conservative pundits are crying foul against CBNC, and by extension, NBC News, for the poor performance of their own Republican candidates in a self-inflicted moment. Priebus’ grievance was that NBC’s partner network CNBC asked questions that weren’t fair to the Republican candidates. He cited the first question directed to party frontrunner Donald Trump as to whether he was running a “comic book version of a presidential campaign” as an example.
The NBC News-Telemundo debate is scheduled for Houston on February 26, and is co-sponsored by “National Review” magazine.
Mr. Priebus went on to list the criteria for the debate to which CNBC had agreed and fallen through.
“Let me lay out a radical proposition: How about we say from now on if you have never voted in a Republican primary in your life, you don’t get to moderate a Republican primary debate”, Cruz said.
“Priebus complained that the questions were “‘gotcha’ questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and created to embarrass our candidates”.
NBC News said it was disappointed with the development and pledged to work in good faith with its debate broadcast partners at Telemundo to resolve the matter with the Republican Party.
“We look forward to pursuing alternatives along with the RNC to ensure candidates are given ample opportunity to outline their vision for the future of our country”, a Trump campaign statement said. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have pinned the blame on the RNC for what they perceive to be a poorly-run primary debate process. “As the nation’s second largest population group, it is vital for candidates vying for the White House to directly address the issues and concerns of most importance to Latinos in both English and Spanish-Language network aired debates”, said NALEO.
Friday’s revolt wasn’t the first disagreement between CNBC and Republican candidates.
Although the RNC has confronted NBC about the debate, candidates have made their displeasure known with the organization.
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“You know, you can spend forever combing back through somebody’s history saying, ‘1942, didn’t you say…’ Come on, give me a break, we need to mature in the way that we do these debates if they’re going to be useful to the American people”.
